Milan – The United States is as good as gold.
The Americans ended their long wait for an Olympic men’s ice hockey gold with a 2-1 overtime victory over Canada in a thrilling final, with Jack Hughes’ winning goal delivering their third title and first since 1980.
Hughes scored 1:41 into overtime Sunday, 46 years to the day of the famous U.S. “Miracle on Ice” victory over the Soviet Union on the way to their last gold at the Games in Lake Placid.
In the three-on-three overtime, Hughes collected a pass from Zach Werenski (Grosse Pointe) and coolly fired into the net.
The goal resulted in gloves, helmets and sticks flying over the ice as his teammates ran to smother the American hero.
Hughes, from Canton, moved to Michigan in high school with his family to pursue a hockey career. He spent two years with the U.S. National Team Development Program in Plymouth Township, then was selected No. 1 overall by New Jersey in the 2019 NHL Draft.
Team USA took a 1-0 lead on an early goal by Matt Boldy, who went to Northville High School when he played for two years with the U.S. National Team Development Program.
Boldy took the puck at center ice on a solo rush against Team Canada’s top defensive pairing of Cale Makar and Devon Toews.
Boldy flipped the puck into the air, skated behind the defense and outmuscled Toews to beat Jordan Binnington with a backhand shot. Auston Matthews and Quinn Hughes were credited with assists.
In the second period, Team USA goalie Connor Hellebuyck from Commerce Township stopped Connor McDavid on a breakaway and Team USA killed off a two-man power play with Red Wings center Dylan Larkin winning a key defensive zone faceoff.
“Unbelievable game by Hellebuyck. He was our best player tonight by a mile,” Hughes said. “Unreal game by our team. That’s American hockey right there. That’s a great Canadian team, but we’re USA, we’re so proud to be Americans. Tonight was all for our country.”
Team Canada tied the game 1-1 late in the second period on a goal by Cale Makar. The Canadians avoided trailing at the start of the third period for the third straight game when Makar received a pass from Toews above the right circle and fired a wrist shot into the net to tie it 1-1 at 18:16.
Canada outshot the U.S. 19-8 in the second period to take a 27-16 advantage into the third.
In the third period, Hellebuyck made two outstanding saves to keep the game tied 1-1. Hellebuyck, who made 41 saves, stopped Toews in the slot and Macklin Celebrini on a breakaway.
Canada was given a four-minute double-minor high-sticking on Sam Bennett at 13:26 of the third, but the U.S. couldn’t capitalize for the first three minutes. The rest of the power play was negated by a high-sticking penalty on Hughes.
“That’s exactly how we wanted it to go,” Hughes said of Sunday’s game. “We wanted to go through Canada and beat them.”
Canada played its second straight game without star captain Sidney Crosby, who was injured in the 4-3 overtime win against Czechia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Crosby scored the overtime winner for Canada in a 3-2 win against the U.S. in the gold medal game at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.
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